Key facts
- Since the previous update on 5 May 2025, and as of 12 May 2025, nine new MERS cases, including two fatalities, have been reported by health authorities in Saudi Arabia.
- Cases were reported from Hail (1) and Riyadh (8). Seven cases were part of the same cluster in Riyadh, including one patient with no history of contact with camels and six healthcare workers who acquired a nosocomial infection from the patient.
- Since the beginning of 2025, and as of 12 May 2025, 10 MERS cases, including two fatalities, have been reported with date of onset in 2025 in Saudi Arabia.
- The risk of sustained human-to-human transmission in Europe remains very low, and the current MERS-CoV situation poses a low risk to the EU/EEA.
Overview
Update: Since the previous update on 5 May 2025, and as of 12 May 2025, nine new MERS cases, including two fatalities, have been reported by health authorities in Saudi Arabia.
Cases were reported from Hail (1) and Riyadh (8). Seven cases were part of the same cluster in Riyadh, including one patient with no history of contact with camels and six healthcare workers who acquired a nosocomial infection from the patient. Of the six healthcare workers, two developed mild symptoms and four were asymptomatic. From the remaining two cases, one had history of indirect contact with camels and one had no history of contact with camels.
The two fatalities had comorbidities.
All contacts (household and healthcare workers) from the cases were followed up and, apart from the six healthcare workers, no secondary cases were identified.
Summary: Since the beginning of 2025, and as of 12 May 2025, 10 MERS cases, including two fatalities, have been reported with date of onset in 2025 in Saudi Arabia.
Since April 2012, and as of 12 May 2025, a total of 2 638 cases of MERS, including 957 deaths, have been reported by health authorities worldwide.
Sources: ECDC MERS-CoV page | WHO MERS-CoV | ECDC factsheet for professionals | WHO updated global summary and assessment of risk (November 2022) | Qatar MoPH Case #1 | Qatar MoPH Case #2 | FAO MERS-CoV situation update | WHO DON Oman | WHO DON Saudi Arabia | WHO DON UAE | WHO DON Saudi Arabia 1 | WHO IHR | WHO EMRO MERS Situation report | WHO DON Saudi Arabia 2 | WHO DON Saudi Arabia 3 | WHO DON Saudi Arabia 4 | WHO DON Saudi Arabia 5
ECDC assessment
Human cases of MERS continue to be reported in the Arabian Peninsula. However, the number of new cases detected and reported through surveillance has dropped to the lowest levels since 2014. The risk of sustained human-to-human transmission in Europe remains very low. The current MERS-CoV situation poses a low risk to the EU/EEA, as stated in the Rapid Risk Assessment published by ECDC on 29 August 2018, which also provides details on the last person reported with the disease in Europe.
ECDC published a technical report, 'Health emergency preparedness for imported cases of high-consequence infectious diseases', in October 2019 that is still useful for EU Member States wanting to assess their level of preparedness for a disease such as MERS. ECDC also published 'Risk assessment guidelines for infectious diseases transmitted on aircraft (RAGIDA) – Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)' on 22 January 2020.
